He was a solid d-man, bummer to see him go, although like Lidstrom retiring this off season, we all knew it was an inevitability.

I feel kinda bad for Stuart with all the family stuff and not being able to fly the entire family out to see him. Yet another glaring example of why you should NEVER get romantically involved with someone who already has kids by someone else. Its almost guaranteed to be drama. (I know, been there, done that)

the MLive article seemed to show Jason Garrison available too from Florida. If Tallon doesn't throw the bank at him, I'd like to see Detroit take a run at him. Easily the #1 defenceman on the Panthers last year. He's big, scored a lot of goals last year.

Stuart was a great stay-at-home defenseman. I think we could have used his underrated shot a bit more in some situations (mostly when our PP was floundering and Babs was mixing things up). He was a great checker, worked hard on the PK, and complimented Kronwall's game (step up in the offense) very well.

the MLive article seemed to show Jason Garrison available too from Florida. If Tallon doesn't throw the bank at him, I'd like to see Detroit take a run at him. Easily the #1 defenceman on the Panthers last year. He's big, scored a lot of goals last year.

Agreed. My dream off season would be Sutter, Garrison, Moen and Parise. But yea, we'll see..

Wow, not exactly what I thought Stuart would garner in return...but whatever. We knew he was going no matter what, whether it was on July 1st or not, we basically got nothing in return except some trade fodder. Really though, Holland gave up a 2nd & 4th for him, now he is only worth a conditional? Crazy...

BTW - HELL NO TO QUINCEY! Holland, THINK! A 1st and a 3rd! Sh!t, if Stuart was only worth a conditional, you could essentially be "trading" Stuart/Quincey for a 1st, 3rd, Condition, Murray. Letting Quincey go RFA would more than make up for getting squat for Stuart's rights.

Wow, not exactly what I thought Stuart would garner in return...but whatever. We knew he was going no matter what, whether it was on July 1st or not, we basically got nothing in return except some trade fodder. Really though, Holland gave up a 2nd & 4th for him, now he is only worth a conditional? Crazy...

BTW - HELL NO TO QUINCEY! Holland, THINK! A 1st and a 3rd! Sh!t, if Stuart was only worth a conditional, you could essentially be "trading" Stuart/Quincey for a 1st, 3rd, Condition, Murray. Letting Quincey go RFA would more than make up for getting squat for Stuart's rights.

He's only worth a conditional because of the situation. I assume he would be worth around the same as before if he wasn't planning on leaving regardless.

Murray is listed at 6'2 215lbs....maybe he is the "big bottom six center" we are going to aquire...

i took a look at his profile too. i was pleasantly surprised that he was over 6 feet and that he hits. he'd be a great grinder for the 4th line by the looks of it and he's now in the Wings organization, so they may as well work with him and see what he can do.

Because Stuart was leaving Detroit to play in California regardless. A little something is better then nothing at all. You don't usually get much for trading rights especially when the team he was traded to essentially knows they have a 1/3 or 0.33% chance to sign him. (3 teams in California where he said he wanted to be).

1/3 =/= 0.33%

Sorry, couldn't resist. To me that is like using the wrong "your" or "their."

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

He's only worth a conditional because of the situation. I assume he would be worth around the same as before if he wasn't planning on leaving regardless.

I would also like to add that the rights to a player weeks before they become a free agent (and after the season has ended) typically aren't worth much. Additionally, the whole world knows Stuart wants to play in California, which makes it idfficult to get a good return on him. Why should San Jose give us more, when they know we likely aren't going to get anything from 26 other teams?

I would also like to add that the rights to a player weeks before they become a free agent (and after the season has ended) typically aren't worth much. Additionally, the whole world knows Stuart wants to play in California, which makes it idfficult to get a good return on him. Why should San Jose give us more, when they know we likely aren't going to get anything from 26 other teams?

I am thinking also, Holland probably asked Brad, which team to you want to go to and he picked SJ. So, that is what we got. We all knew Brad was leaving so that is not a shock. Lets hope Holland makes some magic on Draft/UFA day, that is what we are all looking forward to...we all know who "we'd" like to see be Red Wings...Let's hope Holland is able to add the 4-5 players he says he'd like to add!

might I add, re-signing Hudler & Holmstrom will seriously impact our chances of "getting better" this off season...There is simply just no room, unless he trades some folks...(coughFranzencough)

Stuart going public with his desire to be in California did not hurt us whatsoever. Trading rights for picks almost always involves the pick being conditional...if the player signs with the other team you get the draft pick, or the pick becomes a higher draft pick. If he doesn't sign you either don't get the draft pick you traded for or it becomes a lower pick.

So essentially if we had say traded Stuart's rights to Toronto for a fourth round conditional....he wouldn't have signed there (wants to be in Cali) and we would have either lost the fourth rounder and got nothing, or the fourth would have become something like a 7th anyway....Holland just skipped all that BS, got his 7th, and did Stewie a solid in the process.

Perhaps if SJ didn't know they were Stewies #1 choice we could have gotten more out of them....but they knew regardless of whether Stewie went public or not....He has friends in their organization/team and his family still lives in the area....they knew the situation.

you aren't understanding the point he was trying to make. what he is saying is that it was hard to get any value for his rights because everyone knew he had a short list of teams. the reason teams will give more for negotiating rights is they know they are competing against many other teams and getting that exclusive window is important. but since the sharks knew they had a high probability of signing him regardless, they had little motivation to give up anything of value just for the chance to sign him now instead of july first.

the most likely scenario was that they got word that anaheim wanted to offer him a contract so they gave up an asset to make sure anaheim never got the chance...

I love Maltby, but to say he wasn't a ****** is a dis-service to his career of douchebaggery.

He'll be missed, especially for his seemingly endless amount of goal-line plays that saved a goal. However, he is 32 (if my source is correct) and the Wings could be helped by getting younger and bigger. Glad to see him be able to continue to play for a contending team and be close to his family.

He'll be missed, especially for his seemingly endless amount of goal-line plays that saved a goal. However, he is 32 (if my source is correct) and the Wings could be helped by getting younger and bigger. Glad to see him be able to continue to play for a contending team and be close to his family.

It's kind of funny how Stuart is deemed too old however to me having a 38 year old Bertuzzi for 2 more seasons is what sets us back the most. Nick is gone. So too likely is Homer. Stuart is gone. Likely the same with Hudler who is in his prime. Thank God for the Todd though.

Both Brad and Kenny have handled things all season with class. Stuart has been ip front from the start about his intentions. Kenny is doing Brad a favour by trading him well before July 1st. Nick gave Kenny all kinds of preparation for July 1st by retiring when he did. The Wings are just a class organization which is rare in today's sports. You look at guys like Selanne and Niedermayer and how they dicked around the Ducks a few years back. I appreciate how the Wings and their players go about their business.

2. Lids hung them up! (ya this was a bit to swallow, but geesh, folks on here (including me) were saying not too long ago that LIds either needs to take $2.0M or retire. So there ya go, he retired)

3. Stuart left.

...now we will see if the plan keeps going or if it has to change drastically. Bottom line, if Holland does indeed throw the wallet at Suter/Parise and he doesn't get them, its because they didn't want to be here and I think that is the ONLY way they aren't in Wings jersey's next season. I son't think their current clubs can out bid Detroit...Jersey for it's financial woes and Nashville because of Rinne's dumb ass contract and Weber needing to be signed...Speaking of Nashville, would anyone want Tootoo here for that 4th line hitter/grinder? Just curious...